Silicon photomultiplier - Concepts, characteristics, prospects

Abstract

Silicon Photomultipliers are cheap and efficient photon detectors with the capability of single photon counting. Therefore, they become an attractive alternative for the widely used vacuum photomultiplier tubes. Over the last few years, many different approaches were presented and the technological development led to significant improvements in the device characteristics. In this paper the basic concepts of the detectors are briefly presented, followed by a review of the characteristics, advantages and drawbacks as well as future prospects of those promising devices.